Nokia may have gone with Windows Phone 7 for its future smartphone operating system, but until then, we now have the Nokia N9 to look at. Yes, a beautiful, top-of-the-line Nokia smartphone which runs MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan - but isn't this thing kind of a dead end? Also announced: the even prettier Nokia N950 Meego 1.2 developer device - only available to a limited number of developers. Sure to become a collectors' item.

In marketing speak, I think dead-end in that sense means, the culmination of years of engineering excellence! ;-)

It does bring up an interesting point though. I wonder how many people that are not Apple customers buy a phone based on the notion that there will be a next.x release of the same phone when either their contract expires or they next want to upgrade (in six months lol!)

I don't think brand loyalty really plays a significant role as it used to in consumer smartphone decisions. They seem to graivate to whatever is shiny at the moment, but I could be way out of touch. I own about 12 models so I'm not a good reference point

It does bring up an interesting point though. I wonder how many people that are not Apple customers buy a phone based on the notion that there will be a next.x release of the same phone when either their contract expires or they next want to upgrade (in six months lol!)

Its not just about the hardware, its the ecosystem. Sure its nice to know that you'll be getting updates, and its even nicer to know that you'll be able to upgrade to a familiar device later on. But its mostly about the apps, and games, you can't forget the games because smartphone are primarly entertainment devices these days. But if developers doubt your commitment to the platform, why will they develop for it. Very few people will want a smartphone if it doesn't have the apps they are used to. Are many developers still interested in Meego know that they know Nokia won't be throwing all its muscle behind it. Its a side project at best now.

Just curious, can you name an app that you use consistently on your current platform that isnt available or as a clone with matching feature set on the 3 other major platforms that would prevent you from purchasing?

I've got an android phone, and I'd happily switch to the N9 if the price is right. The apps themselves aren't or shouldn't be important, the capabilities are. Meego, from what I've seen, is highly capable in itself, with a proper GNU userspace, whereas Android isn't all that powerful and really depends on the applications to do every little thing.

Besides, it's built on Qt, so much of KDE should be easily adaptable to the platform. And it's got ScummVM.